In Latin America, unused holiday days typically accumulate: you save them, negotiate them, or get paid for them at the end of the year. In the Netherlands, it works differently, and if you don’t know the rules, you can lose days without anyone explaining it to you. This happens to many people, especially those who have recently arrived in the country. I’ll tell you how it works, when they expire, and what to do to avoid losing them.

Two Types of Days: wettelijk and bovenwettelijk

Not all holiday days are the same. There are two categories with different rules:

Statutory days (wettelijke vakantiedagen). This is the minimum guaranteed by law. They are calculated as weekly hours × 4 = holiday hours per year. For a 40-hour work week, this means 160 hours = 20 days. For 32 hours (4 days), it’s 128 hours = 16 days. This is an inalienable minimum: your employer cannot give you fewer days.

Extra days (bovenwettelijke vakantiedagen). Many employers offer more than the legal minimum: 25, 26, or even up to 30 days a year. These extra days have different expiry rules, as you’ll see now. To find out how many of each type you have, check your contract, ask HR (Personeelszaken), or consult your CAO (collective labour agreement for your sector).

The 6-Month Rule: When Statutory Days Expire

Here’s what surprises almost everyone: any statutory days you don’t use expire on 1 July of the following year after they were accrued. For example, your 2025 days expire on 1 July 2026 — if you reach June 2026 with unused 2025 days, you lose them. And they expire en bloc, all together on that date, not day by day. The moral of the story: if you’re someone who saves holidays for a big trip, use up the previous year’s days before 1 July.

Extra Days Last for 5 Years

The bovenwettelijke days (those beyond the legal minimum) have a much longer validity period: 5 years from the year in which you accrued them. For example, your extra days from 2025 won’t expire until 2031. This gives you plenty of leeway to plan a long trip, a leave of absence, or simply accrue them during a busy period at work.

Exception: When You Couldn’t Take Them

There’s an exception to the 6-month rule: if you couldn’t take your holidays due to reasons beyond your control —a long sick leave, or because your employer didn’t allow you— those days do not expire after 6 months; instead, they fall under the 5-year period. The key is to have it documented. If it was verbally denied and then the days expire, making a claim is very difficult; if you have it in writing (an email, a message on the company platform), you have a basis. Always keep communications when you request holidays and they are denied.

Your Employer Must Inform You

Something few people know: the law obliges employers to inform you in advance that your days are about to expire. They cannot let 1 July arrive and tell you that you’ve lost them without prior notification. If you reach that date, no one informed you, and you lose statutory days, you have grounds to claim them. Nevertheless, it’s practical to keep track yourself and not rely on reminders.

What if You Change Jobs?

Very relevant for those who change employers often (starting at a temporary employment agency / uitzendbureau and then moving to a direct contract, or seeking better conditions). When your contract ends, you have two options for your remaining days:

• Get paid for them: the employer is obliged to pay you for unused days. This will appear on your final loonstrook (payslip) or in a separate payment. Check the calculation: outstanding days × your daily salary value.
• Transfer them: request a certificate (vakantiedagenoverzicht) with the outstanding hours and present it to your new employer. Not all employers accept this (especially for extra days), but statutory days can often be transferred if there is an agreement.

If you don’t do anything and change jobs without claiming them, those days disappear: they don’t transfer automatically.

Can You Get Paid for Them Instead of Taking Them?

• Statutory: No, not while you are still employed by the company. Rest is a right that cannot be “monetised” by working; you only get paid for them when your contract ends.
• Extra: In many cases, yes, you can negotiate to be paid for them, unless your contract or CAO states otherwise. If you accrue more than you can use, ask HR.

And if you’re reconsidering your work schedule, also check out what really happens if you work 4 days and what to do with your vakantiegeld (the extra holiday pay).

Do you have questions about how many days you have left this year or what happens to your holidays when you change jobs? Leave them in the comments.